Money can slip right through your fingers or you can learn to manage it. I have saved thousands of dollars by following the advice of experts I interview for personal finance articles. Writing personal finance articles has given me a better understanding of retirement planning, saving for college, buying insurance, credit card spending, becoming debt free, protecting my financial information, protecting my health information, loaning money to friends (don’t do it unless you can afford to lose the money), saving on vacation travel (I saved enough on airfare to extend a trip to the Bahamas by a week and still come out ahead), identity theft and earning credit card rewards. I have been horrified at the problem of identity theft among foster children and disgusted by fraudsters who prey on members of the military. I have been heartened by stories about people who have learned from their financial mistakes and then pay it forward by helping others.